Although she'd been living at the Burrow for a month, Fleur could count on one hand the number of times she'd wandered the grounds surrounding it. Sure, she'd spent time out in the front yard and the garden behind the house, but there was an expansive set of fields, forests, orchards, and countless other places to explore surrounding the home, and all of it was kept private by the wards covering the Weasley's land. When she first arrived here with Bill, she'd tried to drag him outside to show her around, but he'd put it off, and then his mission had taken him away.

Well, he was clearly trying his best to make up for lost time.

When he'd brought her out to his father's small shed, Fleur had thought that he was going to grab a couple of broomsticks to show her around by air. Instead, he pulled out a picnic basket that he'd prepared earlier in the morning while she'd still been asleep. Then, they'd set off down the laneway towards the orchard behind the Burrow.

The orchard was surrounded by tall apple trees, obscuring it from view from the Burrow itself. They walked along the dirt lane underneath a magically-sculpted, wooden archway and entered into the serene landscape. It was beautiful, like something out of a storybook her mum would have read to her when she was young. The bright sun illuminated the orchard, and various butterflies and red-feathered Northern Cardinals flew casually overhead.

If that wasn't enough to make Fleur feel something, Bill was paying an unusually high amount of attention towards her. He kept looking at her face, trying to gauge her reaction to the world around her. Whenever he saw her smile, he'd smile too. It was sweet, if somewhat uncomfortable. It reminded Fleur of how he acted when they first got together and not at all how the last several months had been.

As uncertain as she was about her feelings towards Bill—and Harry—she still appreciated the gesture. This was everything she ever wanted from Bill, but she just didn't know if it was too late or not.

"I've got the perfect place I want to show you," Bill grinned. He offered her his hand, and Fleur accepted it. He pulled her along happily, basking in the glow of the sun and Fleur's presence alongside him.

They travelled through most of the orchard until they reached the far end of it away from the Burrow. While the lane continued straight for a bit longer until it passed beneath another archway, Bill instead pulled her off of the path and towards a thick cluster of trees. The ground beneath them was overgrown with bushes and brambles, but once they got closer to it, Fleur realised that there was a subtle, narrow path that they could pass through.

Bill had to let go of her hand to lead her through in a single-file line. He held the tree branches back for her so that she could pass through easily, and once she did, she felt her breath leave her lungs.

They were in a much smaller clearing than what the orchard had, but it was far more beautiful. The clearing was ringed by white wildflowers and lavender and hay, which were growing tall and strong, and there was a large pond in the centre of the clearing. Old logs had been carved into benches and were sitting along the water's edge, giving them a place to sit down and relax. It was perhaps one of the most beautiful places Fleur had ever seen.

She looked over to Bill to see that he had a bright smile on his face. "Well?" He prompted her.

"It's incredible," Fleur gushed. "I never knew that there was a place like this so close by."

"Yeah, well," Bill cringed a bit. "I meant to show this to you, but . . ." He blew a bunch of air out of his mouth and shook his head. "I was being stupid. I'm not going to make the mistake of putting you second in my life ever again."

Fleur just nodded in reply. It was hard to respond to Bill when he said things like this to her. Letting out her bottled up emotions over how his continuous abandonment of her wouldn't do either of them any good now that Bill recognised his mistakes and was trying to make amends. But she also couldn't say that everything was alright now either.

They sat down on one of the benches and Bill placed the picnic basket on the ground in between them. He pulled out a wide selection of foods, mostly foods she'd have back home in France. He had a large loaf of a crusty bread that approximated as a baguette; fresh fruits like cherries, plums, and figs; small jars of butter and honey; sliced ham and half of a roasted chicken; blue, camembert, and brie cheeses; and even a couple bottles of wine and some glasses to go along with it.

Bill moved with an ease and grace as he laid out the spread on the bench in between them. Fleur appreciated the space away from him; hopefully, it would help her get her thoughts straight. Once everything was laid out, he gestured for her to get started eating.

As Fleur used her wand to slice up the bread and got a thick slab of butter on the provided knife, Bill poured wine for them.

"I found this place back when I was redoing the wards on the Burrow right after I graduated," Bill explained casually to her. "Someone must have found this place before me because these benches were already here, but they were in such terrible shape that I suspect it must have been someone from an earlier generation of Weasley. I used to come here to relax after a day at work, just staring up at the sky as the sun went down."

"That would be a perfect view," Fleur sighed happily. The sky was perfectly open above them, and the orange-glow of a setting sun would only be partially obscured by the foliage of the trees around them. Based on what she could see, there was nothing but fields and ponds to the west, leaving nothing to obstruct the view.

"It is," Bill agreed. "Maybe," he hesitated for a second but quickly powered on. "Maybe we could start coming here more often. I know my mum can be a bit much to handle—she's why I moved out in the first place. This can be our special spot."

Their special spot. They'd never had a place like that before. Given how time consuming their jobs were, they'd had little time to actually find a nice place where they could relax together. Sure, they had their usual date night spots—places that they hadn't been to in over half a year at this point—but they never had a place of their own.

"I'd like that," Fleur admitted. "It would be nice to get away from the snide comments at the Burrow after a long day of work."

Bill's hand was on her shoulder in an instant, drawing Fleur's gaze to his face. "I'm so sorry for leaving you here alone, Fleur," he told her again, his eyes showing just how sincere he was.

Fleur couldn't take it; she pulled away from him.

A look of hurt crossed Bill's face, but he masked it quickly enough. "I'm sorry—"

"Stop apologising," Fleur interrupted. She couldn't take anymore of his apologies today. They both knew that he had a lot to be sorry for; all that repeating it did was remind Fleur of all of those lonely months and late-night fights they'd had.

"S—" Bill stopped himself before he could apologise again, but he still chuckled at himself. "Alright," he replied. "Well then, let's talk about something else. How's work been? Did Glurdack finally get his head out of his arse and hand over the drill enchanted project to you?"

Fleur smiled and went on to explain it all to him. Throughout it all, Bill was there with poignant questions and insightful comments on the state of Gringotts and the realities of dealing with goblins. It felt so refreshing to have someone around who she could talk about her job with, someone who would actually understand the nuances of enchanting and could make intelligent connections before Fleur needed to explain them.

Bill was attentive, caring, and compassionate at every moment.

And still, Fleur's heart didn't sing the way she'd been waiting for when she looked at him.

"I promise, I'll be back soon," Bill said, planting a kiss on Fleur's forehead. After that first kiss when he'd returned, he hadn't tried again. Instead, his touches were much more conservative, and Fleur was thankful for that.

"Okay," Fleur murmured in reply.

Molly and Arthur were already waiting by the floo when Bill and Fleur entered the kitchen. Arthur gave Fleur a small smile, but Molly's was much more forced. She wasted no time in tugging Bill over to their side and leaving without so much as a goodbye towards Fleur.

Fleur wondered what Molly must think of her knowing that Fleur had yet to give her eldest son an answer on his proposal.

Fleur left the kitchen and returned to her room. Well, it was hers and Bill's, but he'd only slept in it the first two nights that they arrived here and last night. His childhood things still filled the cupboards and desk drawers, but almost everything else was Fleur's.

The afternoon with Bill had been lovely. After their picnic, he'd shown her around more of the grounds. They walked for hours until it was time for him to leave for Headquarters so that he could give his report to the Order. He had been quite apologetic—though he didn't apologise verbally after Fleur's earlier chastisement—that he had to go to this, but he needed to debrief from his mission and explain to them that he wouldn't be taking part in any future work. By the time they got back to the house, they were both tired, physically and emotionally, from their conversation and walking.

After grabbing a change of clothes, Fleur hurried down to the shower and washed all of the sweat and dirt off of herself before getting dressed again in a light, flowing yellow sundress.

Once she was freshened up and dropped her dirty clothes back in her room, Fleur paused in the stairwell of the Burrow. She hadn't seen Ron or Ginny today, and if she had to guess, they'd both be with Harry. She glanced up the stairwell towards the attic; Ron's room was up there, and that was where Harry was likely to be. She needed to at least thank him for watching over her last night. Beyond that, she wasn't quite sure what she should say to him.

But, before she could start her ascent, she heard a door slam open downstairs.

"Mum!" Ron called out.

Fleur slowly started walking downstairs. As she rounded the last bend, she spotted Ron, Ginny, and Harry in the living room below. They were all staring up at her, perhaps thinking that she had been Molly.

As usual, Ginny's look of general disdain and Ron's leering stood out plainly on their faces. Fleur wondered if Harry truly never told any of his friends that they had dated; while she was fairly certain that he had not done so while they were together, he was certainly under no obligation to keep up the secret anymore. However, given Ron's open admiration for her long legs and cleavage, he was probably unaware that she and his best friend had been together.

Despite the uncomfortable looks she received from the two of them, Fleur's eyes glazed past them as she sought out Harry's face. He was staring at her like Ron was, but his gaze wasn't lustful; it was bittersweet. He had a small smile on his lips, but the look in his eyes was one of deep sadness. Harry had always worn his heart on his sleeve. It was one of the things Fleur truly loved about him.

"Molly and Arthur went out," Fleur explained in a quiet voice, not taking her eyes off of Harry. He continued to stare back at her for a moment, only to be shaken from his thoughts when Ginny spoke up.

"Where's Bill then?" Ginny asked with a short tone.

"With them," Fleur answered. "I don't know when they'll be back."

"Ugh," Ginny grumbled. "They could've at least told us."

"It's fine," Harry assured Ginny. The moment he spoke, Fleur felt her ears perk up just as they had the night before. Each sweet syllable felt like a perfect note to her ears. He turned back to Fleur. "We were just going to grab some sandwiches and head out to the pond over the hill."

The talk about food and the pool seemed to shake Ron from his lustful stare. "Yeah," he nodded excitedly. "You can come, if you want."

Fleur could only imagine the depravity running through Ron's mind at the moment. She had a few bathing suits with her, some skimpy and some modest. She'd bought some of the smaller ones with the intent of showing off to Bill, but they'd never ended up going on that beach trip that he'd promised he'd take her on.

Honestly though, Fleur knew that she could easily put up with Ron's stares so long as she got to spend more time with Harry. Seeing him here reminded her of just how magnetised she used to feel towards him, and the chance of getting to talk to him more was something she desperately wanted.

And maybe it could help her resolve her feelings between him and Bill.

"Okay," Fleur agreed, ignoring Ginny's whispered chastisement she directed to Ron for inviting the "French harpy." Fleur was pleased to see Harry bristle a bit at the insult, not that Ginny seemed to notice. "I'll just go get my bathing suit."

"We'll meet you out there," Ginny grumbled, pulling Ron back outside with her.

Fleur rushed into her bedroom and tore through her clothing for her bathing suits. She immediately discarded the skimpiest one and the one-piece suit she'd worn during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Eventually, she settled on a yellow one-piece suit that showed off her entire back and the sides of her breasts. It was modest enough that she wouldn't feel completely exposed to Ron's stares, but it would hopefully be enough to entice Harry's gaze.

Fleur froze at that thought. Was she really trying to get another man to look at her like that when she was still with Bill?

Out of shame, she cast a few alteration charms to make her suit a bit more modest so that it covered her curves better.

Fleur quickly put on her suit before throwing her sundress back on top of it. On the way out, she grabbed one of her fluffy towels and a larger beach towel she had for when she went on vacation with her family. Then, she hurried down the stairs, intent on catching up to the trio as soon as possible.

Instead of rushing out the door like she planned, Fleur skidded to a stop at the base of the stairs when she saw Harry waiting for her.

In the glow of the evening sun, Harry looked incredibly handsome. He looked like he was wearing part of his Hogwarts uniform: a crisp white button-up and a nice pair of slacks, both of which had their cuffs rolled up. There was a bit of dirt on him and his clothes—maybe Molly had asked him, Ron, and Ginny to do some yard work at some point.

Harry's gaze was already on her as she came into view. She remembered how easy it used to be to work out what he was thinking just by looking at his face; now, she felt much more uncertain in her analytical abilities when it came to him. It was like there was a war of emotions going on behind his eyes as he took her in, but he seemed to be trying to suppress them from coming to the surface.

Regardless of what he was thinking or feeling right now, Fleur didn't like the fact that he seemed to be trying to hide it from her. It reflected the distance that had grown between them over the years that they'd been out of contact, and the fact that Fleur was with another man.

"Hey," Harry eventually said after several seconds of silence. "Ron and Ginny went on ahead," he said as a small smile came to his lips. "I figured I should stick around to show you where we're going."

"That is very . . . nice of you." Merlin, why did she sound like that? Was she forever destined to be awkward around him now?

A strange look crossed Harry's face, but it was gone in an instant. "Come on," he said as he pushed off from the wall he was leaning against.

Silence resumed as they stepped out of the Burrow and into the sunlight. It felt nice on Fleur's skin in her sleeveless dress. Her Veela heritage naturally drew her towards warm places, and a day in the sun was the perfect way for her to feel refreshed from her endless work in the depths of Gringotts.

Harry seemed to enjoy it too. By the slight tan he had, Fleur assumed he had been spending a lot more time outside recently. She wondered if he'd been fixing up the garden at his relatives place?

"Not anymore," he answered with a slight shake of his head.

Fleur blushed deeply as she realised that she had vocalised the question she had been running through her mind. She hadn't even noticed herself starting to speak until it was too late. Well, there was no going back now.

"Are you not living with them anymore?" Fleur asked tentatively, knowing how touchy the subject was.

"No," he said. "I moved into my godfather's house, Headquarters."

"That's wonderful," Fleur smiled brightly. Even though his godfather had been on the run at the time, Harry had eventually told her all about him. She'd never had the chance to actually meet him, but he sounded like a decent man. At the very least, he was the last bit of family that Harry had. "How is Sirius?"

"Better every year," Harry smiled. "He managed to get his old motorbike working again. He loves to take me out on long rides like him and my dad used to do. He's taught me how to drive too. He said he'd get me my own bike eventually, but I think he just wanted me to be able to drive him back home if he got too pissed to drive himself."

Fleur chuckled lightly. That sounded like Sirius.

"Anyway, things are going better now," Harry finished.

"I'm glad," Fleur said sincerely. "There are few people who've gone through as much as you. You deserve a bit of happiness in your life."

Harry tried to smile back at her, but it only formed into a grimace before it dropped off of his face entirely. It was only then that Fleur realised what she had just said.

Fleur had spent a week choosing the right location. It had to be somewhere away from the castle. With all of the students getting ready to leave in a few days, the entire school was in chaos as friends took their last opportunity to spend time with one another. She wanted to be able to speak to Harry privately without the chance of someone overhearing them. There were only a few places that fit the bill, and the easiest ones were outdoors where they'd be able to spot anyone coming close to them.

While there were a lot of places Fleur could have chosen to talk to Harry, there was only one that held a special connection to them. It was their favourite place to spend the weekend together given that they could go far away from the castle and have a little privacy to themselves.

The far side of the Black Lake was rarely frequented by students and it was one of Harry and Fleur's frequent meet-up spots. She'd sent Harry a letter this morning asking him to meet her here after lunch. There was a little rocky section by a small hill that they had a couple of picnics at that was ideal for the discussion she had planned.

Not for the first time, Fleur asked herself if she was doing the right thing. Her brain told her yes, but . . .

"Fleur?"

Fleur nearly jumped out of her skin as Harry's voice rang out. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him approach. He walked around one of the large boulders with a bright smile on his face. It was enough to nearly make Fleur sick to her stomach.

"Hi," Fleur grimaced, unable to give the convincing smile she'd planned.

She could see it in Harry's face that he knew something was wrong. He came up to her side quickly with concern shining in his eyes. "Are you okay? Is something wrong back home?" He asked worriedly.

Fleur hesitated. She wasn't okay, but she didn't want to tell him that. It'd make this harder than it needed to be.

She'd spent the last two weeks thinking about how she was going to breakup with Harry. She was about to be an adult out in the world and he still had so many years of school left. Their relationship wouldn't last when they had to be long distance for the majority of every year until he graduated. Plus, the distance between England and France would make it difficult for them to see each other when they both had free time. Fleur would have a job soon and Harry would be stuck at his relatives, who, he informed her, completely abhorred magic in every sense. At best, they'd manage to see each other maybe three or four weeks each year for the next three years. How could a relationship survive that, even one with as much love as theirs?

Her emotions were already starting to creep up on her. Her throat tightened and her eyes filled with unshed tears, but Fleur forced her body to recompose itself before she spoke again.

There were no pretty words that could save this, and Harry wouldn't want any even if she had any to give; he was a direct man, and it was something Fleur deeply appreciated about him. She wouldn't do him the disservice of obscuring this conversation for what it was.

"I think we should break up," Fleur blurted out before she could stop herself. Just saying those words made her want to burst into tears again like she'd done this morning when she realised that today was the day her first real relationship was going to end. It felt like such a terrible mistake, but she just didn't see a way around it. Even if her heart was screaming at her to take him into her arms and forget her entire plan, her brain told her that their relationship wouldn't last the painful separation they'd endure; better to go out on a high note than to watch something she treasured so dearly fall into a state of decay.

Harry stood shock-still for several seconds as his mind fought to process her words. Fleur didn't need to imagine the heartbreak he was going through; she'd already gone through it every day over the past couple of weeks. She just stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to do or say anything.

It took a while longer before Harry's unfocused gaze landed back on her face. The pain in his eyes was something Fleur had never seen from him before. Watching him felt like she was back under the icy-cold waters of the Black Lake, suffocating. But, as bad as she felt, she knew that what he was going through was much worse, and that only made Fleur feel worse about herself. She wasn't going to ask for his pity though; he was the one deserving of support after this decision, not her.

"Why?" Harry's voice came out like a whimper, a sound of pain leaving his body.

Fleur clenched her hand into a fist behind her back, driving her nails into the meat of her hand to help keep her tied down to the situation in front of her so that she didn't break down into tears at the sight of the one she loved going through this much pain. "You're still going to be in school for three more years, and I'll be back in France. I care for you, Harry, but our relationship won't survive the distance."

"How do you know?" He asked in a pleading tone. Fleur could see that he wanted to save this, but her mind was set.

Fleur gave him a sad smile. "I just do. You should be able to live out the rest of your time at Hogwarts without being tied down to me—"

"Don't patronise me like I can't make my own choices," Harry snapped as a burst of anger filled his voice. He looked like he regretted his tone immediately, but Fleur didn't comment on it. She was fine if he needed to get his anger out on her, and she was willing to take it without a fight.

"I know you can," Fleur replied softly. "But I must be able to make my own choices too."

An ugly sound left Harry's lips as tears filled his eyes but refused to spill over. "Don't do this," he whispered.

Fleur gulped back the rising bile in her throat. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "But you deserve a bit of happiness in your life, and I can't give that to you right now."

The tears spilled over onto Harry's cheeks and he dropped to his knees on the ground. Fleur nearly went over to comfort him, but she caught herself. She didn't want to make this any harder on either of them. "I'm sorry, Harry," she repeated sadly, fighting back her own tears. "I'm sorry."

The sounds of Harry's sobs echoed through her mind the entire walk back to Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry," Fleur murmured to Harry. She could see that he was trying to recompose himself after that painful memory bubbled back up to the surface of both of their minds. "I didn't mean to bring up a bad memory."

"It's fine," Harry waved her away. It clearly wasn't fine, but he refused to let her see the pain he was in. It hurt Fleur that he was putting up barriers like that, but she knew that she shouldn't have expected anything different. It was what she deserved after breaking up with him like that.

It was such bittersweet irony that she only now realised that she never should have done that. Maybe if they had stayed together, they'd still be happy. Or maybe not. Fleur didn't quite know. All that she knew was that her heart sang when she looked at Harry. It told her what to do, what she always should have done.

Back then, Fleur had listened to her mind over her heart, and that had led her to an unhappy relationship.

Maybe she needed to try listening to her heart for a change.

But the real question was: would Harry even take her back?

"I missed you, you know," Fleur continued speaking quietly as they walked past a cluster of oak trees. "A lot."

Harry opened his mouth and closed it again before he paused in thought. "I did too," he finally admitted. "It took me a long time to . . . you know . . . work through everything."

"I spent most of the summer crying like a baby in bed," Fleur said with an awkward smile.

"Then why did you do it?" Harry asked quickly, his piercing gaze fixing itself on her face. "I thought we had a good thing going, and then it ended so suddenly."

It was hard to meet his gaze, but Fleur didn't want to shy away from her choices. "I didn't lie back then about the reason; I thought that we wouldn't work out because of the distance."

Harry had clearly been hoping for something more, a stronger, more-compelling reason for their sudden end. His mouth twisted up like he'd just bit into a crabapple. "Stupid reason," he muttered under his breath so quietly that Fleur almost missed what he said.

"I agree," Fleur said candidly. Hindsight made it obvious now, but at the time it hadn't been. She'd thought that she was doing the right thing, even if it had hurt a lot, but now she wasn't quite sure.

Harry's head snapped up at her statement, but he didn't look like he knew quite what to say in response.

"About what I said last night," Fleur began, only to be stopped short by Harry.

"Fleur, if this is about you and Bill—"

"It is, but you need to hear it," she interrupted firmly.

Harry looked like he wanted to argue the point, to make his opinion known, but Fleur wanted to speak first. She wanted to admit all of her vulnerabilities, to let Harry examine her and her words and make a decision then.

Even still, forming the words she wanted to say sent a stabbing lance of pain through Fleur's heart. Even if she knew she didn't love Bill anymore, that didn't make it any easier to admit a second time.

"I don't love Bill anymore," she reaffirmed. Harry didn't gasp like he did last night; he didn't let any emotion shine through as he watched her and waited patiently for her to complete her thoughts. "I haven't for a while now, and even though he's trying to fix things with us, it isn't working out."

"This isn't because you saw me again, is it?" Harry asked her quietly, seemingly hoping that his return wasn't the cause for the deterioration of Fleur and Bill's relationship.

"No, it's not," Fleur answered. It was mostly true; seeing Harry again did give her the final push she needed to try to end things with Bill, but she'd been standing on the edge for months at that point. Their relationship had been bound to end sooner rather than later.

Harry looked a little relieved at that. "So, why are you telling me this?"

Wasn't it obvious? Didn't he feel the immediate connection they had when he returned? Didn't he look at her and feel the same pull in her heart like she felt when she looked at him? Didn't his heart sing out when she smiled his way? Fleur tried to decipher Harry's neutral expression, looking for any crack or insight that'd offer her the information she was looking for.

When their eyes met, Fleur felt that spark again, and suddenly it was like she could understand him and his emotions. She saw the look of sheer desperation and longing in his eyes, even disguised as it was.

"Because, I think I'm still in love with you."

There, the bombshell had been dropped, and both of them were reeling from the fallout of her words. Honestly, Fleur was astounded that she had actually managed to say the things her heart had been screaming at her to say. Harry looked just as floored, but there was a bittersweet tinge to his expression that left Fleur worried.

"I think I'm still in love with you too," Harry admitted nervously.

Fleur's heart screamed out in triumph. She didn't realise that she had closed the gap between them until he had his head in her hands and she was leaning in to kiss him. But their lips never met.

Fleur grunted as she staggered backwards. Harry's hands were outstretched, and she realised that he had shoved her away. He looked so terribly torn by his actions.

"We can't," Harry spoke quickly, getting out his thoughts the second they formed into his mind. "You're still with Bill."

Fleur gulped. She was, and Bill deserved the truth. "I know."

"We can't do anything while—"

"I know."

Fleur's heart was pounding madly at her chest, and not only at the feelings she was feeling towards Harry. She was going to have to breakup with Bill, and the thought of that terrified her. She was going to be hurting another man again, and she wasn't looking forward to it, but it had to be done.

"Tonight, when they get back home," Fleur told Harry. "I'll talk to Bill then."

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! If you are interested in reading more or supporting me, check out at p atreon .com(slash) ashox